Not Broken!

I saw a post on Facebook by a friend one day that stood out to me. He said, “Quit saying during communion that this is the broken body of Jesus! He wasn’t broken!” When I read it, I thought to myself, is it really that important? It seemed to really bother my friend and I hadn’t thought about using these words before. I’d always thought it said “broken” so of course I had to look it up and make sure.

Matthew 26:26

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

Mark 14:22

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

Luke 22:19

“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

As you can see by the above scriptures, He never said broken, He did say given though. Given is much different than broken. The only thing that is broken is the bread to share with others. When we “break bread” it is a term of communion and fellowship.

I understand the word broken in ways that many people may not. I have been broken, completely broken and so full of sorrow that I wanted to die and tried to end my life. I had no strength left in me and was not able to obtain any victory for myself in this breaking. I know others who have been broken through pain and sorrow. It leaves a person completely helpless. This however does not represent our passover lamb on the cross.

Luke 23:46

And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last.

John 19:30-34

“So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”

Jesus avoided being broken because He gave up His Spirit before they got to Him to break His legs and force death. Why is that important? Because He was totally fulfilling the scriptures through His obedience, even to death! He overcame death the moment that He submitted to it! There was no fear! There was only victory for Christ. He became the perfect sacrifice even submitting Himself to death. They could not break Him! Glory to God!!!

John 19:36-37

“For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.”

And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

Philippians 2:8

“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

Numbers 9:12

“They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.”

Psalms 34:20

“He guards all his bones;

Not one of them is broken.”

Exodus 12:43,46

Passover Regulations

“And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it.

In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.”

I am a retired RN. During my career I witnessed death frequently. One thing that I can tell you about death is that the human being is very resilient and does not often easily let go of life and die. It is a process that can be as difficult and time consuming as birth. During birth there are hours and sometimes days in laboring the entrance of the human child into a new atmosphere. The breath of life is passed from mother to infant through the umbilical cord so that child is part of her environment. The act of birth is the first breath of life on its own in a new environment that is totally dependent upon itself. As a person dies, the breath struggles the longest to carry on. I have seen people hold on way past their bodies physical ability to maintain life because the tie to life is so strong.

The scriptures tell us that because it was Passover, the Jews wanted to make sure that Jesus was dead and the best way to do that was to break the legs. This act of breaking the legs caused instant suffocation for the one hanging on the cross. They had to be able to pull themselves with their legs to suck in air, so often the process of dying on the cross could take days not just hours. Letting go of life, especially because of fear of the unknown is hard. I understand this from my experiences working as a nurse.

For Jesus Christ to become obedient to death as stated in Philippians 2:8, He had to let go of His spirit! As stated in the above scriptures, that is exactly what He did. He let go! He gave himself up to the death on the cross in submission to breaking the old covenant of death for our sakes! He was not broken! They could not break Him! He was given! He gave Himself for us completely and willingly so that we could have the new covenant that was bought by His blood. A new covenant of life that completely nullified the old covenant of death! Never again will I say that His body was broken for us because it denies the wonderful act of love that He fulfilled for all humanity to be restored to the Father. We are alive because HE GAVE!